So a Pharisee and a Tax Collector Went to the Temple to Pray

"So a Pharisee and a Tax Collector Went to the Temple to Pray. . . "
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at Union Congregational Church in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "So a Pharisee and a Tax Collector Went to the Temple to Pray"

This Morning's Scripture reading is:
Luke 18:9-14

So a Pharisee and a Tax Collector Went to the Temple to Pray. One of them came out looking good. The other one – not so much.

I think the Pharisees get a bad rap. Whenever they get compared to the standard Jesus sets in the Bible, they come out looking awful.

It isn’t’ because they didn’t try to follow the scriptures
It isn’t because they didn’t love God
And it isn’t because they weren’t devout followers of God and of the scriptures.

This morning’s scripture reading is an excellent example of this bad rap. A Pharisee comes to the temple to pray. Prayers that are very similar to what a Pharisee would recite are written in the Talmud – the Jewish commentaries compiled from oral tradition dating back to the time of Moses. Listen to these written prayers of blessing-- based on a much older oral tradition, in Talmud Berachot

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, shelo asani goy.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who did not make me a Gentile. (or "heathen")

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, shelo asani aved.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who did not make me a slave (or "idiot").

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, shelo asani isha.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who did not make me a woman.

(Such disdain for woman still! But women do have something else to say here)

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, she asani kirtzono.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who made me according to your will.

This Pharisee was reciting acceptable morning prayers – thanking God for not making him the things he was not.

"Thank you that I am not a thief, a rogue, an adulterer or a tax collector."

It does sound offensive, doesn’t it? But the character is this prayer isn’t one to belittle others, but rather to thank God for giving them a lighter burden and therefore more ability to do good in the world. Of course, in this Pharisee’s prayer things went a little farther. It went from thanking God. (For things that sound offensive to us) to reminding God how good the Pharisee really was.

"I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income."

I do look at this prayer and I am offended by what the prayer thanks God for not burdening the pray-er with. And I don’t think God needed to be reminded that the Pharisee was following the rules. I think that when we read this parable we’re supposed to be offended by how the Pharisee prays. I also think that the Pharisee didn’t see things the same way. I think he was seeing it like this:

"I’m doing it right, God – love me because I’m doing it right!

Do you know who the Pharisees of Jesus’ time are most similar to our churches today?

The ministers
The worship leaders
The ones who have learned the rules and follow them. We get a little full of ourselves in the process. We say "I’m doing it right, God -- love me because I’m doing it right."
The ones who pray and give thanks for God’s blessings – and too often say or think things like "Thank you, God, that we aren’t like them."

Them.

Here’s the tax collector. He didn’t know the rules the way that the Pharisee did. He didn’t have the appropriate prayers on the tip of his tongue. He stood far off – not feeling worthy to be near the ‘holy Pharisee’ or in a place where the righteous ones prayed – and he asked God for mercy.

This prayer of the tax collector reminds me of this scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

"Only the penitent man will pass. Only the penitent man will pass. . . "

"The penitent man will pass. The penitent... the penitent. The penitent man... "

"The penitent man is humble before God."

"He kneels before God. Kneel!!"

And because Indiana Jones kneeled – he didn’t get his head lopped off by the giant rotating blade.

I wonder what kind of treatment Hollywood could give the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector? What if Indiana Jones were trying to decipher and ancient clue based on this parable?

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector."

"A Pharisee and a tax collector. Tax collector."

"The Pharisee thanked God and exalted himself. Stood there and exalted himself."

"The tax collector stood far off and asked God for mercy. Far off. Asked God for mercy."

"All who exalt themselves will be humbled. All who humble themselves will be exalted."

"Humble themselves."
" Stood far off."
" Mercy."
" Stood far off."
" Far off! Run!! ."

And because Indiana Jones ran far off, he just missed being trampled by a giant herd of stampeding rhinos.

What’s the common element in the Bible reading, the Indiana Jones scene and my silly Hollywood version of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector?

I don’t think it’s about making a villain, hero or a scapegoat out of any of the characters.
I don’t think it’s about finding ways to make God love you.
I do think, rather, that it’s about learning to be humble and trusting in God’s unending mercy.

Sometimes we act like the Pharisees. We follow God and get a little full of ourselves in the process.

Sometimes we act like the tax collector. We feel completely unworthy and all we can do is cry out and ask God for mercy. And maybe we feel like we have to acknowledge how awful we are or God won’t hear our prayer.

I don’t think we should pray out of pride. I don’t think we should live our lives filled with pride.

I also don’t think we should pray out of self-loathing either. I don’t think we should live our lives filled with self-loathing.

We can learn from both of the characters in this morning’s parable. We can come to God gratefully instead of pridefully. We can come to God humbly instead of with self-loathing.

Do you remember the prayers from the Talmud Berachot I talked about earlier? Hear what they’ve become in more recent years:

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, she asani Yisrael.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who made me Jewish.

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, she asani ben chorin.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who made me free-born.

Baruch atah Hashem Elokenu melech haolam, she asani b'tzelem Elokim.

Praise to you, the Lord Our God, King of the universe, who made me in the image of God.

We can come to God in prayer humbly and trusting in God’s unending mercy. Here’s a prayer I think we can learn and say together. And as we say it, we can remember that we learned it from both a Pharisee and a tax collector who came to the temple to pray.

Praise to you, O God, who calls me your child.

Praise to you, O God, who calls me to love all your children.

I’m sorry, O God, for all the times I have failed to follow you

Thank you, O God, for your forgiveness and your mercy.

Help me, O God, to show love for you and for all

Amen.